Movers & Shakers 05/18/14

Post date:

Wed, 05/14/2014 - 9:53am

Kim Black joins the Arctic Branding & Apparel team after spending the last 15 years in specialty healthcare sales, marketing and management. Her most recent experience was as the marketing director for an occupational health and rehabilitation department. In this position she became familiar with the safety needs of Alaskan workers and the importance of providing equipment, clothing and training to protect them from injury.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks announced recipients of the 2014 Emil Usibelli Distinguished Teaching, Research and Service Awards on May 6. Joseph Thompson, associate professor of philosophy and humanities in the College of Liberal Arts, received the teaching award; Roger Ruess, professor of biology at the UAF Institute of Arctic Biology and College of Natural Science and Mathematics, received the research award; and Elena Sparrow, research professor and education outreach director at the International Arctic Research Center, received the service award. All three were honored at a reception at the UA Museum of the North. Thompson joined the university in 1999 and has taught a wide range of undergraduate courses, from introductory philosophy to core humanities classes to advanced senior thesis. His student evaluations have been consistently stellar. Thompson has three philosophy degrees: a bachelor’s degree from Binghamton University and a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Ruess joined the faculty at UAF in 1989, after postdoctoral and faculty positions at Syracuse University and two years as a postdoctoral fellow with the National Science Foundation. Ruess is an ecologist whose work, which focuses on the boreal forest, has been funded with almost continuous support from the National Science Foundation. Ruess earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of California, Irvine and a doctorate in biology from the University of North Dakota. Sparrow has served the university since 1985 and has become internationally recognized for her work to share science with elementary and secondary school students. Her work with the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment program, also known as GLOBE, has helped engage scores of students and teachers as citizen scientists. Sparrow holds a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from the University of the Philippines, a master’s degree in soil microbiology from Cornell University and a doctorate in agronomy-soil microbiology from Colorado State University.

Dustin Baugham recently joined URS as a project administrator with six years of experience in administrative and management support. Baugham’s responsibilities include billing, project controls, and subcontractor compliance. Neal Smith recently joined URS as an environmental scientist with two years of experience. Smith provides technical studies and environmental support, including National Environmental Policy Act support, environmental site assessment and Marine Mammal Protection Act support, Section 404 and Section 10 permit applications, water quality studies, and discharge monitoring and compliance support with Environmental Protection Agency and Alaska Department of Conservation water quality standards. Smith received a bachelor’s degree in aquatic biology from Bemidji State University and a master’s degree in environmental science from Alaska Pacific University. Edmund (Ned) Gaines recently joined URS as a cultural heritage specialist/applied anthropologist with 15 years of experience in all aspects of cultural resource management and sociocultural impacts analysis. Gaines has served as project director/principal investigator responsible for leading archaeological survey, excavation, lab analysis, technical report preparation, and consulting with various state and federal agencies. He also has experience in stakeholder engagement, paleontology, subsistence, database management, GPS, GIS, cartography, geomorphology, soil science and laboratory analyses.

Two LifeMed Alaska professionals have received the distinguished designation of Certified Medical Transport Executive by the Association of Air Medical Services. Colt Connolly, director of ground operations, and Scott Williamson, director of flight operations, were both honored for receiving the CMTE designation at the AAMS–Medical Transport Leadership Institute graduation banquet last week. The two men join LifeMed Alaska colleagues Jared Sherman, Glenn Stevens and Tim Nixon, along with approximately 300 other individuals worldwide who currently hold the CMTE credential.

Tim Cudney has been appointed as the director of the Fairweather LLC Deadhorse Aviation Center at Prudhoe Bay. DAC is a multi-faceted aviation facility operated by Fairweather to support oil field operations on the North Slope, as well as offshore oil and gas exploration and development activities and U.S. military operations in the Alaska Arctic. Arriving in Alaska in 1978 after working in Colorado and Wyoming for the National Outdoor Leadership School and Outward Bound as a climbing instructor, Cudney accepted a position operating several remote fly-out hunting and fishing lodges in Bristol Bay. From 1997 to 2013 Cudney was employed by Era Helicopters, where he advanced from Denali Park helicopter base manager to director of business development for the Million Air/Era fixed-base operation in Anchorage. In 2013, Cudney joined Fairweather as the interim facility manager of DAC.

R&M Consultants Inc. has added three staff members to its Anchorage office. Justin Rich, GISP joined R&M in March 2014 as a GIS specialist in the GIS Group. Rich has five years of experience in GIS, including analyzing and interpreting remote sensing imagery and vector data; developing algorithms for running spatial analysis; creating spatial databases; and processing GPS data. He spent the last three years as a Research Technician at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Rich has a master’s degree in geology from the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, and a bachelor’s degree in geosciences from the University of Southern Maine. Chris Fell, LG joined R&M in April 2014 as a senior geologist in our Earth Sciences Department. Fell has 10 years of experience performing environmental and geotechnical services for private and public clients. Since joining R&M, he has been involved in the Alaska Stand-Alone Pipeline Material Program: Prudhoe Bay to Cook Inlet. Fell has a bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Josh Phares joined R&M in April 2014 as an IT systems administrator. He has 15 years of experience in IT and has a strong background in user support, driving upgrade projects and instituting process improvements. Phares is knowledgeable in Macintosh OS X; Windows XP and 7; Citrix Secure Access Client; Norton and Symantec AntiVirus; Inter-tel Phone System; Heat and BOSS Work Ticketing System; Web Design Usability Testing; and Enterprise Imaging Software.